Tagline:His past was kept from him. His search for answers has just begun.

Synopsis:The Amazing Spider-Man is the story of Peter Parker (Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Sheen) and Aunt May (Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents' disappearance - leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Ifans), his father's former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors' alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.

Cinematic reboots for superheroes tend to fall into three different categories. One takes a movie that fizzled and tries again. For instance, 2008’s Incredible Hulk attempted to win over all the viewers disenchanted with 2003’s Hulk.

Second, we find do-overs that bring back long-dormant characters. 2006’s Superman Returns would meet this category, as it offered the first Superman movie in 19 years.

Third, we locate reboots that follow movies that killed off successful franchises. Superman Returns could be viewed in that way – 1987’s Superman IV was a total dud – but I look at this category as best represented by Batman. 1997’s Batman and Robin was so poorly received that it demolished a thriving series. Eight years later, the stench still remained in the air, but 2005’s Batman Begins cleared it – and set up the template for the modern reboot.

2012’s Amazing Spider-Man doesn’t fall into any of these categories. Unlike Superman, Spidey didn’t spend much time on the sidelines; it’s only been five years since 2007’s Spider-Man 3, so it’s not like the character remained idle for long.

While Batman Begins acted to revive a series badly wounded by a crummy film, the same wasn’t necessary for Spidey. Sure, Spider-Man 3 got the weakest reception of the three, but it still sold a lot of tickets and certainly avoided the “disaster” status stuck onto Batman and Robin or Superman IV.

So why did Spidey reboot? I think this occurred essentially because the main creative team behind the three prior movies didn’t want to continue with the series. Without Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire in tow, the franchise’s producers had little choice but to start anew.

And I understand they had a hard task in front of them. Like I mentioned, they didn’t need to revive a series that lost public affection, and they didn’t have the luxury of beginning again after many years. They were going to relaunch Spidey with memories – mostly quite fond – of the Raimi films still active in the collective moviegoing mind.

I suppose they could’ve taken the 1980s/1990s Batman route and simply continued the franchise with new actors. A theoretical Spider-Man 4 could’ve picked up where 3 left off and not bothered to “reboot” the situation.

However, I suspect all involved wanted to be able to put their own stamp on the series and not just continue someone else’s themes/efforts, which led to a proper reboot.

It feels weird to see “the beginnings of Spidey” retold only 10 years after 2002’s Spider-Man, but I understand why the movie went that way. Amazing needs to make it clear it doesn’t exist in the same timeline as the Raimi films. This Peter had no lifelong crush on Mary Jane and he meets Gwen much earlier in life than in Spidey 3 or the comics.

Amazing attempts to spice up the standard origin because it’s not “the standard origin”. The film deviates from comic book mythology in substantial ways as it gives us Spidey’s creation.

When I see a movie adapted from a book or other source, I don’t expect – or necessarily want - slavish fidelity. Heck, I loved the Raimi Spider-Man and it took notable liberties with the character’s “real” story. For instance, in the comics, Peter never met Mary Jane until both were adults; he lived next door to Mary Jane’s aunt but they didn’t know each other as kids.

I was fine with the changes made for the Raimi movies because they were mostly in the right spirit. If anything, it helped the series that Peter had a lifelong crush on Mary Jane, as it deepened both roles and their relationship.

Amazing takes significant liberties, but not to the advantage of the characters or narrative. Gwen essentially exists as a replacement for the Raimi movies’ Mary Jane. Yeah, she’s a more bookish version, but she’s still just another love interest/damsel in distress. Actually, Gwen needs less saving than Mary Jane, but she also has less reason to exist; most of the time, she feels like a basic plot device.

And there’s just no connection between Peter and Gwen at all. I don’t know how much of that’s due to the writing and how much stems from the actors. Maybe there was simply no chemistry between Garfield and Stone, but their scenes together fall completely flat. When Spidey and Mary Jane first kissed in 2002, it delivered an electric moment; when Gwen and Peter smooch, a collective yawn comes from the audience.

Stone feels like she thinks she’s playing Mary Jane – and she should have been. I get the feeling that Amazing features Gwen instead of Mary Jane solely to separate it from the Raimi movies. Yeah, Gwen played a role in Spidey 3, but the Raimi flicks were really all about Peter and Mary Jane; Gwen’s presence in the third film was a fairly token one that occurred mainly to add some tension to the Parker/Watson relationship.

Indeed, Mary Jane was such a major presence in all three Raimi adventures that I suspect the producers changed to Gwen solely to give the new series their own stamp. Never mind that Stone was almost literally born to play Mary Jane. She looks like her and has the kind of sassy personality that’d work for the character.

But alas, she was too young to get the part – she was 13 when the 2002 flick went into production – so she’s stuck with Gwen. It’s an awkward connection that never quite works. I like Stone but think she always feels out of place in the part.

And then there’s Garfield. I think he’s a decent actor but seems all wrong for Peter/Spidey – or at least takes a problematic path in the role. At his heart, Peter is the ultimate nice guy, a virtual mama’s boy who’s a hardcore nerd. That’s how he was portrayed in the Raimi films, and that series got Peter to a “T”.

Maybe this significantly altered portrayal exists to satisfy the teen girl crowd; Garfield’s Peter would fit in nicely among the Twilight characters. Whatever the motivation, he’s just not Peter Parker. The “real” Peter would be voted “Most Likely to Win a Rhodes Scholarship”, while Garfield’s Peter would be chosen as “Most Likely to Go Columbine on His Classmates”.

At its core, Amazing gets the Spider-Man franchise’s tone completely wrong. Instead of a lovable loser, we get a surly, twitching loner. Instead of the guy who can’t catch a break, we find a prick who hides underneath a hood and snarls at his relatives.

Perhaps some people like the changes, but I don’t. Again, I don’t demand that the movie stay 100 percent faithful to the facts of the source, but I do want it to adhere to the spirit of Spider-Man, and that doesn’t happen here.

Part of what always made Spidey/Peter unique and so appealing came from his hapless nature. When Marvel introduced the character in 1962, he was something different than the flawless heroes who preceded him. Peter was an average guy with real-life problems and neuroses, and he ended up on the fuzzy end of the lollipop more than he emerged as the big hero. We could relate to Peter and root for him.

Sociopaths will relate to Garfield’s Peter, but I find it hard to imagine he’ll endear himself to many others. I never thought I’d say this, but for the first time in my 35 of Spidey reading/viewing, I’ve found a Peter Parker I don’t like. In this movie, the character’s almost utterly unsympathetic, and no attempts to redeem him succeed. He starts as an off-putting weirdo and stays unlikable to the end. Peter Parker as James Dean just doesn’t work.

This even mars the scenes in which Spidey uses his trademark wit. In the comics, I loved when Spidey would joke with the baddies. In this movie, however, he feels like a sadistic creep; his taunts veer toward nastiness and rarely amuse or delight.

Amazing is the first Spider-Man film since 2008’s Dark Knight pushed comic book movies toward a more grim, serious orientation, so I suspect it’s not a coincidence that it leans in that direction. No, Amazing doesn’t come with the grittiness of the Nolan Batman flicks, but it’s considerably more somber than we’d expect from this franchise. While Spider-Man always came with an introspective side, it didn’t lend toward real darkness ala Batman, so this flick’s tonal shift feels odd and inappropriate.

Which connects to the film’s main problem: it simply lacks any sense of fun. Just like I don’t want a jokey, campy Batman, I don’t want an overly self-serious Spider-Man. Again, that’s what the Raimi films did so well: they presented solid character drama but retained the inherent quirk and self-deprecating wit of the original.

I won’t call Amazing a complete dud. However, it’s much closer to “bomb” than to “success”. I love the Spider-Man character and franchise but find myself almost wholly disappointed by this ineffective revamp.

Footnote: a little teaser with Dr. Connors shows up a few minutes into the movie’s end credits.

The Blu-ray Grades: Picture A-/ Audio A-/ Bonus A

The Amazing Spider-Man appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.40:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie came with a solid presentation.

Sharpness was positive. Only a smidgen of softness ever appeared, and that was restricted to a few wide shots. The vast majority of the movie demonstrated strong clarity and delineation. No issues with jaggies or shimmering occurred, and I noticed no edge haloes or print flaws.

Colors looked fine. The movie usually went with a slightly golden tone, though action scenes veered a bit blue and Lizard-centric pieces moved green. Whatever the requirements, the colors came across with nice clarity and liveliness. Blacks were dark and tight, and low-light shots demonstrated positive visibility. I had no complaints about this fine image.

I felt equally impressed by the lively DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Amazing, as it offered a lot of pizzazz. The soundfield created a terrific sense of place and threw out fine action when appropriate. The movie’s various action sequences boasted vivid material that showed up around the spectrum in a dynamic manner.

Other aspects of the track satisfied as well. Music always offered good stereo imaging, and quieter scenes were convincing, too. These showed a clear sense of place and meshed together in a pleasing way.

Audio quality always seemed strong. Effects were dynamic and clear, with deep bass and good punch. Music showed similar strengths, as the score was lively and full. Speech came across as natural and concise. I liked this track and thought it added a lot to the movie.

We find a slew of extras here. On Disc One, we launch with an audio commentary from director Marc Webb and producers Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach. Webb creates his own running, screen-specific track that gets combined with a similar piece with Arad and Tolmach together. All together, they look at story/character subjects and adapting the comic book material, cast and performances, sets and locations, various effects, stunts and action, music, and a mix of other topics.

This edited piece delivers a competent examination of the film but not more than that. It comes with too much praise for my liking, and it never feels especially insightful. Nonetheless, it covers a broad enough range of subjects to make it worthwhile; it’s never great but it’s consistently good.

Disc One opens with ads for Men In Black 3, Total Recall and the Worldwide Orphans Foundation. The movie promos also pop up under Previews along with clips for Arthur Christmas and Premium Rush.

With almost two hours at its disposal, “Rite” provides ample room to breathe and explore its territory. It does well in that regard, as it delivers a full, involving documentary. “Rite” covers all the appropriate subjects and does so in a compelling manner.

11 Deleted Scenes fill a total of 16 minutes, 50 seconds. In these, Dr. Connors becomes the primary beneficiary, as he dominates the clips. These add a little to the character, especially when we see his inner conflict and his connection with his son. Others seem less interesting, but I like the way the cut sequences expand the Connors role.

Under Pre-Visualization, we find 16 segments with a total running time of 39 minutes, eight seconds. Across these, we see a mix of filmed storyboards and crude CG animatics that let us see various scenes during their planning stages. I’m not a huge fan of this sort of material, but this is still a good compilation.

Stills pop up within The Oscorp Archives Production Art Gallery. This splits into three domains: “Spider-Man” (156 images), “The Lizard” (52) and “Environments” (123). These can be technical and often offer variations on a theme; for instance, we’ll see many barely-different takes on Spidey’s mask. Nonetheless, they give us some interesting visuals and the interface is friendly enough to make navigation easy.

Within Image Progression Reels, we find another four segments. These go for a total of 11 minutes, 51 seconds and depict the different stages through which those scenes went. We see them at their most basic and watch as visual layers add to their complexity. Jerome Chen, David Schaub and David A. Smith add commentary and helps make this an informative view of the processes involved.

Stunt Rehearsals delivers eight clips for a total of 11 minutes, 52 seconds. We see rough video footage that presents the stunt performers as they demonstrate/work out what we would get in the final film. I like this segment, as it’s cool to see the action scenes effects trickery; we can examine how much was done for real.

Finally, a featurette called Developing the Amazing Spider-Man Video Game lasts three minutes, 30 seconds. We hear from studio head Dee Brown, executive producer Brant Nicholas, and creative director Gerard Lehiany as they simply tell us about the game. This is an ad and nothing more.

A third disc delivers a DVD Copy of Amazing. It gives us a version with a mix of extras, so it provides better value than many bonus DVDs.

After three mostly fine movies between 2002 and 2007, I hoped 2012’s Amazing Spider-Man would develop the series in equally positive manner. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. While the earlier series did almost everything right, Amazing gets almost everything wrong and feels disconnected from the world of Spider-Man. The Blu-ray delivers solid picture and audio along with a strong set of bonus materials. I feel totally pleased with this excellent Blu-ray and wish I enjoyed the movie more than I do, but Amazing Spider-Man remains a major disappointment.